Introducing the People&#39;s Portable Garden

Nobody wants to stare out their window at a neglected, decrepit, empty plot of land that might sit waiting for a developer's blueprints for months or even years. The mandate of Salt Lake City's Redevelopment Agency is to buy up property in blighted neighborhoods and sell the land to developers. But as one official explained to City Weekly, Sometimes, because we're trying to create large properties, we sit on property for such a long time, it causes more of the blight we are directed as an agency to turn around."

Enter the People's Portable Garden. "The partnership between the city and Wasatch Community Gardens has erected above-ground planters that can be moved to another location when it’s time to develop the property," reports City Weekly. "All available $25 plots were immediately snapped up."

It's a perfect solution for now, but long-view types have their concerns. Eventually, developers will come for the land. And despite the temporary status of the garden implied in its very name, "Other cities that have allowed community uses for vacant land have faced protests when it finally came time to develop."